4. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: Update on Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:38 pm on 5 June 2018.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:38, 5 June 2018

Thank you for the series of questions. And, just in terms of the challenges about planned care, I've never stated that the challenges of planned care have been resolved. Far from it. I've said exactly the opposite. The improvement that has taken place has only been part of the improvement required, which is why money was clawed back, which I'm absolutely clear is the right thing to have done, and to be clear that I expect to see further improvements through quarter 1 and quarter 2. So, there isn't any attempt to soft soap the remainder of the challenge that still exists, not just in the shorter term challenge of reducing waiting times, but also in the challenge of the medium term and actually having a more sustainable way of seeing and treating the healthcare need that exists within north Wales as well. So, this isn't a single shot about spending a lot of money to resolve the waiting list and everything will be fine; there is a larger challenge to deal with as well, which is why we are taking time to look at the revised, again, orthopaedic plan and the ophthalmology plan provided by the health board.

On your points made about supporting staff, just a few examples that you asked for on the services that are available: there is a range of counselling services, including the Lighten Up programme, mindfulness, stress control, resilience training and Schwartz Rounds. We also have a range of services being provided with Welsh ambulance services as well. So, there is a range of deliberate and specific programmes, and, again, that's why I say we work properly with trade union colleagues as well as the health board itself as the employer.

In terms of your points about complaints, I can tell you, for example, in terms of improvements, that 94 per cent of complaints have been acknowledged within two working days. That is a significant improvement on where we were some time ago as well. That is a real improvement that makes a difference to people making complaints. The challenge always is that, if you're the person who hasn't had your complaint acknowledged in good time, if you wait for longer than you should do, then actually that is the person most likely to come and see us as elected representatives. That's part of what we see. So, there is honesty about the improvement that has taken place in complaints handling.

In terms of an example of the cultural change required, you only need to look again at the Health and Social Care Advisory Service report itself, which noted some of the challenges in the cultural change between clinicians about their buy-in to a service. Now, there's a challenge there that doesn't just exist in one service, and you'll see this right across the national health service in every single part of the country. It's often difficult to persuade people who are used to working in one way to change and work in a different way, and yet we also know that some of the biggest and best advocates of change in delivering a service are actual front-line members of staff themselves, who recognise they could and should deliver a better quality of care.

In terms of your broader challenge about whether money has been wasted at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, I'd say I don't think the money has been wasted. We will of course learn lessons from every large capital project that we undertake in looking at whether that amount of money and the way it was a capital project could have been better managed. I certainly expect there will be lessons to learn about the more effective management of the capital spend there, but I don't accept your broader point, your concern, that Ysbyty Glan Clwyd was too big when it was built. The challenge is how we continue to change the way our hospital estate works, the services run from it, and that that actually does keep pace with the changing way in which healthcare will need to change, and the twin moves that we've discussed many times before in this Chamber of some services coming into a specialist centre, and vascular surgery being an example of where some of the specialist services are coming into Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, for example, but regular vascular surgery is not being taken out of the other two centres within north Wales. But the money we've invested in the hybrid theatre has also helped with recruitment of people to go into that service as well. So, there is always more to learn about what has happened in the here and now, and always more for us to do. That is part of the joy and the challenge of doing this job and being involved in and around the national health service.